Auction Power Guide

There a several ways that you can send traffic to your website from eBay. Before using any of these ways, be sure to check eBay’s policy for changes so you do not violate their policy.

One way to obtain traffic to your website through eBay is by using graphics or images hosted on your server. There are many commercial and free services you can use. You can also upload your graphics or images to eBay’s servers. However, visibility from the search engines will be greatly increased by using your own servers. The search engines can follow the links in your eBay listing to your website. Some search engines will also display messages in their status bar as to where the images are being loaded from. For example it might say “Loading Image From http://www.ABCDEF.com” or “Waiting For http://www.ABCDEF.com”. This is great exposure for your website.

When you register your account with eBay, use an email address that is associated with your website. For example, if your website is “http://www.ABCDEF.com”, you could use “sales@www.ABCDEF.com” as the email address associated with your eBay account. You can list this email address in the text of your listing only if it is the same one you used to register your account. This is in addition to the “Ask The Seller A Question” link.

The user id associated with your eBay account can also be a great way to direct traffic to your website. Even though eBay policy does not allow you to use your website address as your eBay id or user name, you can use a form of the website address. If your website is “http://www.ABCDEF.com”, you could use ABCDEF as your eBay user name.

Probably, one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website or internet store from eBay is by using an About Me Page. While you cannot offer non-eBay listings or merchandise on the About Me page, you can add a link to your website or internet store. eBay’s policy states that you cannot have the same identical item in your auctions as you have on your website either at the same price or at a different price. You can also not link to trading sites or other auction sites, or offer merchandise or information not permitted on eBay, or a website that offers items from several sellers. What you may do is link to your own website or internet store where you have items to trade, sell or purchase. Again, used correctly, this is a great way to use eBay to drive traffic to your website or internet store.

Trying one of these methods is sure to help drive traffic to your website or internet store. Remember to following eBay’s policy. Read their policy very carefully and check on it periodically for changes. Ignorance of their policy is not an excuse eBay accepts. If you violate their policy repeatedly, you will be banned from eBay.

Loretta Miller
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-promotion-articles/use-ebay-to-send-traffic-to-your-website-52929.html

I’m an experienced Ebay user who has sold some stuff over the time on and off, but lately it is becoming more like a business and I have found that I can make a lot of money off from it. I know that I need a business license, possibly a reseller/auctioneer license for my city and will start up a home-based business of re-selling on Ebay.

I know that it would be best and easier to get a business checking account (I presume it has to be after getting the license, to show the bank proof to open the account). For what I do (buying and re-selling), a business credit card would be helpful. I have like 8 personal credit cards (only a few of them are actually used – the rest are $0 balance) and excellent credit. But how does my income get used for that? I work part-time (but full-time hours) for a retail chain as my main job. But my online re-selling would almost pay what my regular job does if I were to go full-scale on my online selling. When applying for a business checking/credit card account, can I use my personal income and business income combined? Otherwise, I have no real income to report since the business license will just be established right before opening the checking account. You’re not supposed to do business before the business license, so…how should this work?

Also, once I DO get a business checking or credit card account, there obviously won’t be anything in the checking account (apart from their required minimum to open the account) unless I pull from my personal savings gained through my retail job and put it in the business checking. Then that seems to throw things out of whack though, doesn’t it? What about when I need to use the income generated from my home business to pay personal bills and such for making a living? Is it okay to just draw that out or do I need to meticulously log each withdrawal for personal use, too?

There are a lot of questions in this topic to cover in a Y!A post. It really depends on how you plan on classifying your business and whether you plan on selling other people’s items or only your own items. You’re more than likely, if it is just going to be out of your home, best off just going at it as a sole-proprietor which makes your life a lot easier. If you plan on selling a massive amount of items or other people’s items on consignment (or you buy it from them for the purpose of reselling it) then you may start to want to look at shying away from the sole-proprietor and going at it as an llc or s-corp.

Unless you’re planning on incorporating (c-corp) your business or bringing in partners all of your personal income and income generated from the Ebay business are one in the same. They may be earned in different ways, but in the end the IRS doesn’t really care where the money in your bank account comes from if you are operating as a sole proprietor, llc, or s-corp; they only care that they get their share. This is a common misconception with people starting up small businesses like this and one I see a lot with the few small businesses that I help out with accounting wise. For a record keeping standpoint and making the tax returns go more smoothly it is definitely easier to keep money generated from work and a small business separate, but it doesn’t make any real difference as far the IRS is concerned for the majority of sole-proprietors; you claim all of your income on the same tax return at the end of the year; it just goes in different areas and on different forms.

If you want to do it the right way (as far as record keeping goes), regardless of how you plan on registering your business, then yes, you would want to use a separate checking account for your business. Most banks can open a business account as soon as you have the state registration number. As far as funding that? You’ll be using your personal income to start it off, it doesn’t matter really (as long as you aren’t incorporating). If you are going to track all of your expenses and incomes from the new business well then you can classify the money used to start up the business as an owner’s contribution.

You can use all of the income generated from your Ebay business for any expenses you want, just keep records of what you use it all for – record them as personal or business expenses. You also need to remember any income you generate from your new business you’re going to have to pay taxes on and how these are taxed, again, fall in to whether you plan on incorporating or not and there are some differences in taxes when it comes to sole-proprietorships, llcs and s-corps.

To sum it all up, no matter how you plan to register your business: Get the license. Use your personal money to start the new bank account. Dedicate one of your old, unused credit cards as one you use ONLY for the Ebay business. Keep decent records of your transactions – at a minimum at least keep track of money made on sales, money spent on the items you sold and have yet to sell, money spent on business expenses, and money spent on personal expenses. Most importantly: after obtaining the license and deciding how you plan to run your business (sole-proprietorship, llc, s-corp, c-corp), to have a consultation with a reputable accountant (CPA or CMA preferred) to sit down with you and go over EXACTLY what you will be responsible for as far as taxes and how you will be filing returns and point you in the right direction.

I am looking to see if some one can tell me how much money the average person who owns a eBay store makes.

Looking for statistics, or your own experience.

That is a very hard question to answer since it varies greatly on what a person sells, the number of items, etc. Also, most people will not tell you how much profit they make, so statistics are hard to come by.

If you are just wanting to know a store’s gross sales for a month, you can easily find that information for a specific store. Just grab their eBay User ID (not store name) and go to http://www.sellerdome.com. From there, do a search on their eBay ID. You will see a box in the middle of the screen that shows their monthly sales information.

My personal experience (without giving specifics) is that I make enough profit to provide for a family of 6.

Jason
http://www.auctionarena.com

im in the uk, im an ebay user, when i have the money, which is rare, i find ebay useful for buying rare things, but i just read this story before in yahoo uk news;

eBay ‘owes £51m in taxes’ to UK

eBay pays £1.2m in British taxes on sales of £800m: report

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/ebay-pays-1-2m-british-174322345.html

so it caused me to be worried would stories like this put sites like ebay in danger of shutting down?

i dont understand the story very well so this is why i feared that, so if anyone can reassure or explain it better to me ?

I don’t think eBay will close down, any more than I don’t think Amazon and all the rest of the tax dodgers will. I use eBay quite a bit though, and when I sell things I get heavily charged by eBay for listing and auction fees, as well as PayPal fees, and we also pay (I think) a Luxumboug tax. Sometimes I lose over 10% of the auction value of the item with their cheeky fees that I’m forced to pay. I’m not very happy about this latest news. Why do the govt allow companies to trade without paying tax? eBay and Amazon have caused untold amounts of shops to close on the high street, and many of those shops WERE paying their taxes as they should have been.

PLEASE READ ALL!! Thank you…
So, Ive been an ebay user since september of 2010
I started selling Last june, I sold some Computer Parts i had laying around and such.
The first 2 sales i made i wasn’t able to ship off right away because I did not have any transportation, (I was not aware at the time that usps did free pickups as well) I still shipped them within the Listed handling time and got negative feedback for those 2 for slow shipping.(I do realize this may be my fault)
My 3rd Sale was of a motherboard i took out of my old laptop (Laptop was 100% Operational, Screen was just Broken) I listed it as the exact Model Of the laptop I had "HP G60 Laptop Motherboard With Intel Core 2 Duo CPU" In the description i also included the part Number and serial number of the motherboard Along with several Pictures. After He received it he Left Negative feedback Without Even contacting me and said "You wount get what is discribed! And no answeres to my questions,please stop her"

Since then ive made 28 more sales and my feedback rating is at a low 94.9% I am Working Very hard countless hours a week to try and sell as many things as i can BUT NOTHING SELLS
My Detailed seller ratings are as followed.
Item as described4.2
Communication4.2
Shipping time4.7
Shipping and handling charges4.7
Because of this Ebay Puts my Listings at the bottom of every category! Literately

If you Search Desktop Computers > Custom whitebox > Used > and go to the last item on the last Page, That item is mine.. Here’s a link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/270978724969?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

I am trying to start a business selling Desktop Computers On ebay But How Am i to if My listings will never be seen? Ive been working With Computers since i was about 5 years old and ive been building them since i was 11, All ive been wanting to do for the past year is build and sell computers on eBay, I had a good month where i was building and selling them (I sold about 5) But i stopped because they weren’t selling anymore, And now a few weeks ago i decided i would try again because more and more people are buying there electronics off ebay this year then last year so i thought i would better results, So i log onto my ebay account AND BAM ebay screwed me over because of those 3 sales from almost a year ago, I have to wait 22 Days after making a sale in order to receive the money, Which Wont go away until am back up in performance (But how am i to get back up if its so hard to make sales when your being pushed to the bottom?)

I have a few concerns tho

In june they are changing Top Rated Seller Requirements (If your A seller im sure you are aware)
you will be required to offer one day handling and 14 day money back guarantee in order to remain a top rated seller.

But something MAJOR im noticing from MANY MANY computer sellers on ebay is..
In the Shipping information it states "Will usually ship within 1 business day of receiving cleared payment"

But then somewhere in their listing they will state "PLEASE ALLOW 2-4 DAYS FOR ASSEMBLY AND TESTING OF YOUR NEW COMPUTER"

am i wrong here or are they violating eBay seller terms/Agreements?

When i sold my computers i already have them built so i can ship them out the very next day(I just print the label online and usps picks it up from my door)

Ive been watching One seller and his top selling item has sold 44 computers in one month! and more then half were within last week. His gets placed at the very top of the search results if you search "gaming pc" (Best Match) He has over 6000 views and 44 sales which makes approx 0.73% Buy rate if im not mistaken.

Now he also states 1 day handling in his listing yet.. if you go to the bottom it says "please allow up to 4 days for your computer to be built"

I also noticed even the other large sellers are like this.

Ive put alot of time and effort into trying to start my ebay business, im not doing it for the money, as i really like building computers, when i built mine i only made a very small profit off mine compared to other sellers, i always made them as good as i could for the low cost i was trying to sell them for, and i put alot of time into making sure it was perfectly built for the customer, i guess all of that wasnt enough though, all my computer buyers were very happy and some of them got their computer as fast as 2 days (which is about 4 times faster then any other ebay seller selling computers)

To wrap things up, what im basically asking is What is your Opinion on my seller ratings and the problems ive had? And what do you think about the Sellers that are cheating the system of best match results by lieing about their handling time
and lastly, Do you have any pointers on how i can get my DSR up quickly?
Thank you For reading!!

1. The item you linked to is at the bottom because the price is high and if a seller sorts results by price, yours will not show up at the beginning. You should lower the price and set a reserve price so you can get bids and reserve the right not to sell if the top bid is too low.

2. You should contact your customers and apologize for the delay. (from now one whatever your personal problems are, notify your customers the shipping will be delayed, dont leave them hanging).
You can request them to reverse their feedback to the customers where you have fixed your customer service problems. Neg. feedback can be reversed by buyer.

3. Try another sub-category

4.The seller who sold 44 computers might have a top-rated ribbon. You have to offer a lowr price to compete with that seller. I have the same problem.

5. You could say that customer satisfaction is important and explain in your listing what the actual time it takes to build a computer. You could say in the listing that each one is custom-made and you ship within 2 days.

6. You can purchase a couple dozen small items and get some positive feedback to better your rating.

Ebay is a wonderful place to shop for new or used goods at prices that are easy on the wallet. It is the premiere online auction site where people list items that they want to sell, and is responsible for bringing millions of buyers and sellers together. Think of it as a huge, virtual garage sale where you can buy almost anything. If you’ve shopped for anything on eBay, you know firsthand how exciting it can be – placing a bid, watching the competition, and anticipating your winning bid. But there is another side of eBay that you may want to experience.

eBay Selling

You have probably heard of some people who make six-figure incomes selling products on eBay. Selling on eBay is not difficult, but it does demand a certain “online business” attitude, and a healthy dose of honesty. If you aren’t already selling on eBay, you will need to register and then create a seller’s account. Then browse through the “Seller’s Central” pages of eBay to learn the basics.

If you are new to selling, my initial advice would be to gain experience of eBay selling by cleaning out your garage or attic. Start by selling used goods, small appliances, wedding gifts you never use, old books (non-fiction ones are best), used sporting goods and clothing items. As you get more accustomed to the selling process, you can branch out into selling items on a larger scale.

Shipping

Shipping is an important aspect of running a successful eBay business. Purchase an inexpensive scale so that you can weigh your packages. You will need this info in order to print out shipping labels from home. Be sure to package items securely, and ship them in a timely fashion. This prevents damage while in transit, and ensures a happy customer. You can find great deals on shipping supplies bubble wrap, packing peanuts, shipping boxes, packing tape, scales, and shrink wrap on eBay.

Feedback

Feedback is a very important aspect of buying and selling on eBay. Every eBay user has a feedback page made up of comments from other eBay users with whom they have done business. Each time you receive positive feedback, eBay adds 1 point to your feedback rating. As you generate more sales, this number will continue to grow. Ebay’s feedback rating system allows buyers and sellers to comment on their transactions, and savvy eBayers will look at a seller’s feedback rating before making the decision to buy. It is of utmost importance to ensure that each transaction is successful, as this sets the basis of trust for all future transactions. In simple terms, customer confidence is increased when they see positive feedback and a good trading history, and this in turn can lead to an increase in bids. Answer all customer inquiries and issues with politeness and honesty, and your feedback rating will soar.

Steve Goltiao
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/start-making-money-on-ebay-86935.html

My goal is to be a ebay powerseller. I searched online for items of what to sell on Ebay all I come up with is Garage sales. Does anyone have any tips on finding drop shippers or wholesalers or know items i can buy on craigslist and resale on Ebay? or just tips in general? my ebay user ID is "shema60619" any advice or leads will be appreciated.

You need to build your feedback. You need to have a certain amount of feedback first.

Sell more things around the house and keep your feedback up.

You can look for dropshippers but there’s a reason people don’t use them. Sell what you know. I sell used and vintage clothing and I’m an ebay powerseller.

Be registered with eBay for at least 90 days.
Have an account in good standing.
Maintain a positive Feedback of 98% or higher over the past 12 months.
Follow all eBay policies.
Have a minimum of 100 transactions and $3,000 in sales with US buyers over the past 12 months.
Receive at least a 4.60 average from US buyers across all 4 detailed seller ratings (DSRs).
For all transactions with US buyers, have no more than 1.00% of transactions with low DSRs (1s or 2s) on item as described, and a maximum of 2.00% of low DSRs on communication, shipping time, and shipping and handling charges.
For all transactions with US buyers, have no more than 1.00% of transactions result in opened eBay Buyer Protection and PayPal Buyer Protection cases, and no more than 0.30% of transactions result in closed cases without seller resolution.

There are a number of places to find things to sell on eBay. The most obvious is, of course, buying items wholesale through the manufacturer, or through a middleman or distributor. Of course, it’s a little bit harder to make a good profit doing things this way, because so many other people will probably be selling the same things. All that competition is going to drive prices down so low on most items that the profits are little to nothing, and only the people who can get their products in large quantities and receive discounts, or who do a massive volume, will be making enough for the ordeal to be worth the effort.

eBay itself is a popular choice. You may find this a bit odd, considering that if an item is available on eBay, others have a chance to get it at the same price you do. You might wonder why they would pay a higher price to you. Well, it’s simple. You want to buy “lots” of items, or you want to buy misspelled items. If you find a pair of shoes that normally sell on eBay for $100, and the title has the brand name misspelled, you might get lucky and be the only person who finds the auction. If the starting bid is $9.99 and there is no reserve, you might get this $100 pair of shoes for $20 or less including shipping. That leaves you the opportunity to make a nice profit!

To see a video from Kim and Charles on their Virtual Real Estate Investing systems click below: http://www.audioacrobat.com/playv/Wjk1ZC6f

You might also buy lots of items and break them up. A lot is a group of similar items that are sold together, in a group. You might find a store owner who is closing their store and selling out the inventory on eBay just to get rid of it. You could run across 500 pairs of sunglasses or 20 pairs of shoes in one lot. The average eBay user is not going to purchase a large lot of items this way, so you have a good chance to get the lot at a decent price. You can then break this lot up and sell the items one at a time for a good profit.

One of the most popular ways of finding items to sell on eBay is through places like garage sales, flea markets, and thrift stores. You can find great items at these places, but you need to be prepared to do this very regularly. Some people visit their favorite thrift stores every week, or even every single day! You never know when they are going to put out a rare piece of pottery, or an antique chair, or a suit that might sell for over $100! And garage sales and flea markets are treasure troves, but you need to be prepared to spend a lot of time sifting through useless junk to find some items that will sell well on eBay.

Another resource that is often overlooked is Craig’s List. This website has free classified listings for nearly every major city in the US, and many others around the world. You can find good items very cheap, and sometimes even free! If you want to spend a little time and effort going to pick up the items, you can very often find great items to sell on eBay in the free section of your city’s listings there.

There are many other ways of finding items to sell on eBay. Consider your local newspapers and thrifty ad magazines, swap meets, live auctions, estate sales, and stores that are going out of business or have surplus inventory. With a little research and a bit of leg work, you’ll find plenty of items to sell that can make you good money!

Charles and Kim Petty

If you feel eBay could possibly be a high quality location to make some added money, then you are perfect. With 157 million shoppers, and 100,000 new users every single day, eBay is a hot market place. It is an terrific location for prospective sellers of all knowledge levels to immediately and inexpensively set up shop. The user-friendly atmosphere makes it a marvelous location for the budding entrepreneur to find out the ropes when taking exceptionally small economic threat.

This post will deliver techniques and warnings of prospective pitfalls that will help you in setting up your eBay seller account. Following these directions will lay a solid foundation for the lengthy-term achievement of your new eBay venture.

Setting up Your Seller Account

There are two valuable factors you should certainly look into prior to setting up your eBay seller account. The initially is what e-mail address you will use, and the second is what your User ID will be.

You should certainly stay clear of applying a zero cost e-mail address for your account if at all attainable. The most desirable resolution is to use an e-mail address on your own domain, the second most desirable resolution is 1 with your online service provider (ISP), and the final and lest favorable resolution is to use a zero cost e-mail address such as hotmail, yahoo mail, or gmail. I advise applying separate e-mail addresses on the similar domain for your eBay and PayPal accounts (well speak about PayPal later). This will support you preserve your auction and payment communications separate.

You should certainly feel very carefully about your User ID prior to registering with eBay. You are going to want to brand oneself in a way that your shoppers dont forget and recognize you. Your eBay User ID is an valuable element of the branding approach. You are zero cost to modify your User ID later, in spite of this this is not advisable if you can stay clear of it. Altering your User ID might possibly result in your shoppers not getting in a position to acquire your auctions later.

When deciding on your brand or User ID, you should certainly look into what you will be selling and what image you want to present to your shoppers. If you already have a further home business that your eBay home business will tie into, then you will want your eBay User ID to reflect that. In that case your ID should certainly quite possibly be your existing home business name, or an abbreviated version of it.

If you will be selling mainly collectibles, then your eBay User ID should certainly reflect that in some way. If your concentrate is low-priced items in common, then your ID should certainly emphasize low-priced (my initially eBay User ID was 99_cent_guy, and all of my auctions began at 99 cents). If you are going to specialize in college textbooks, then your ID should certainly indicate that in some way. Ensuring that your User ID reflects what you sell will help drastically in ensuring that existing and prospective shoppers are in a position to acquire you when they want to acquire what you are selling.

The use of webpage addresses (URLs) and e-mail addresses in eBay User IDs is prohibited. I have personally located a way about this by applying an asterisk ahead of and just after the URL (*www.yourwebsitehere.com*), in spite of this carrying out this could result in eBay requiring a modify to the User ID.